California Fleet

Viper 640 2018 Pacific Coast Championships at Cabrillo Beach Yacht Club in SanPedro – photo@2018VolkerCorell

In the past 5 years, the California fleet has grown into one of the largest fleets for the Viper.  The majority of vipers are located in  Southern California from San Diego to Santa Barbara.  This region pairs perfectly with the Viper 640 because of its ease to break down, travel, setup, and launch.  This gives Southern California sailors the ability to experience all the great venues and events on the weekends without spending days setting up and rigging.

The Viper 640 has become “the fleet to watch” at the major West Coast regattas.  Strong regattas such as NOODs in San Diego, Long Beach Race Week, Santa Barbara Skiff Fest, Cal Race Week and King Harbor Race Week make the event schedule fun and challenging throughout the year.

Filled with great people and fantastic sailors, Vipers have fulfilled everything we need as a one-design race boat in California. Lightweight, high quality and most of all, very affordable. Strict one-design rules, one suit of sails per year and Corinthian competition (no paid pros) allows a broad range of sailors to be competitive.

We’re teaming up with our neighbor fleet, the Desert Vipers (Arizona) to add even more variety to our sailing locations. There’s a great race just a few hours away.

Pacific Coast Championships:

Santa Barbara Skiff Fest 2017 – @Shannon Green Ultimate Sailing

Viper Sailors also get to look forward to the Pacific Coast Championships every year.  Notable locations include Long Beach, San Pedro- Hurricane Gulch,  Columbia River Gorge, and Huntington Lake.

We have a very active schedule of demos and joyrides at just about any location you can imagine. Contact your local fleet captain for more information. We also have fleet deals available for budding areas saving new owners thousands of dollars.

Western Region Fleet Captains:

Arizona – Tony Chapman   acchapman@cox.net

King Harbor – Mark Folkman    folkman@verizon.net

Long Beach – Tim Carter    tlcarter@earthlink.net 

Marina Del Rey – Doug Johnstone    dougjohnstone@mac.com

Newport Beach –  Alex Steele   alex.steele111@gmail.com 

PNW – Garrett Johns   gwjohns@yahoo.com 

San Diego – Brad Milligan   sinnermanc4s@gmail.com

Santa Barbara – Jeff Grange    jeffgrange@cox.net 

 

 


  • “Spot” on at the Goslings Viper 640 Worlds August 23, 2019"Spot" on at the Goslings Viper 640 Worlds
      When we made our travel plans to go to the Goslings Viper Worlds at Alamitos Bay Yacht Club, we all knew that we’d have great sailing, great fellowship and, most likely, some good shore-side activities. Little did any of us know what was in store for us. It turns out that ABYC has a hidden asset: Ed “Spot” Spotskey. Spot is the Event Chairman–no small task when hosting an international championship. It quickly became apparent that this was not Spot’s first rodeo! Here are just a few of the things that we were greeted with once we got off the water Wednesday evening: Flowing Goslings Dark n’ Stormies and Trademark Brewing beer…not just at the bar, but right at the head of the dock. Live music A great dinner of steak, salmon, chicken and, yes, lemon bars Flags from all the countries and states being ...
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  • 2019 Viper 640 World / North American Championships December 29, 20182019 Viper 640 World / North American Championships
    The Registration is now open for the 2019 World Championships at Alamitos Bay Yacht Club in Long Beach, CA through Regatta Toolbox.  Start making your plans to compete in what will be the largest and most competitive Viper 640 event of all time.      ABYC has one of the largest Viper fleets in the world and welcomes competitors to come sail in sunny Southern California.  For more information regarding this event please email fleet captain Tim Carter  
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  • Zeke Horowitz, Ian Coleman, and Brendan Healey Win Aspen Viper 640 International Championship sponsored by EFG November 20, 2016
    Sunday, November 20, 2016 When it was decided that the Viper 640 sports boats would travel to Bermuda during November 2016 for its major regatta, everyone was looking forward to the big winds that prevail on the Great Sound at that time of year. Unfortunately on two of the days too much wind prevailed. The 4-day event, the Aspen Viper 640 International Championship sponsored by EFG, was held from Wednesday – Saturday, November 16-19, in conjunction with the 2016 North American Championship. The regatta came down to only six races over two days of sailing. As was the case on Thursday’s second day of the event when 25+ knot westerly winds with puffs well into the 30’s kept the racers ashore, the final day’s racing also had to be cancelled as the low hovering around Bermuda brought winds well in excess ...
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  • Jeff Grange, Bill Blazer and Chris Parker win Viper 640 Pacific Coast Championship June 27, 2016
    Congratulations to Jeff Grange, Bill Blazer and Chris Parker for winning the Pacific Coast Championship at 2016 Long Beach Race Week. 16 Vipers, 7 races, a heck of a regatta. Full story to be submitted shortly Long Beach Race Week 2016 Reported by Tim Carter Alamitos Bay Yacht Club and Long Beach Yacht Club once again hosted Ullman Sails Long Beach Race Week and the 2016 Viper 640 Pacific Coast Championship. We had 16 boats on the line over the weekend, a bit down this year due to work issues with several of the regulars…but we had beer, some breeze, and some sunshine. Friday’s skippers weather brief was talking about 14-18 kts at some point over the weekend; however, I think their instruments need calibration. Friday we saw 5-8 kts max and we had lots of the famous Long Beach Ganga (Kelp) floating around. The ...
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  • Mike Hester Wins Arizona Yacht Club Birthday Regatta…but maybe NOT the Party! January 29, 2016
    January 15-17, 2016 Lake Pleasant, AZ By Thursday afternoon, the RV was set up awaiting the arrival of Team Cobra from SoCal (Tim Carter, Steve Bloemeke and Patricia) to join with Team Nectar Sled (Mike Hester, Sarah Hester and Scott Hoffman). With a few nectars under my belt, Team Cobra arrived and the party started. The Birthday Regatta has a bit of a reputation, and it isn’t usually the predictable breeze; but rather the predictable parties and unusual events. This year was no exception. As there is no lodging on site, many of the teams rent RVs for the event as there are services that will drop off and pick up for a pretty reasonable fee. These RVs are the center of the pre and post-race gatherings. Libations were flowing as many of the other teams arrived from their distant locations. Luckily ...
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  • Team Locomotion Wins Arizona YC Birthday Regatta January 26, 2015
    The 55th Arizona YC Birthday Regatta and Leukemia Cup was the first event of the Viper 640 West Coast Winter Circuit, held during Martin Luther King Day Jr. weekend at Lake Pleasant, 40 miles north of Phoenix.  The event is known for its beautiful desert scenery and its usual “festival” vibe, including the annual “mini-bar” hosted after the racing on Friday by Kelly and Billie Beaver who poured enough rum drinks to make sure everyone was relaxed and happy. The event saw 13 teams, with an even mix of local and out-of-state boats in attendance.  Over the three days of racing, the winds for the start of the first race were good, but quickly lightened to provide challenging conditions for everyone involved.  In fact, each day ended with everyone getting out their paddles to make it back to the bar in ...
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  • Jeff Grange Takes Control of Viper 640 North Americans After First Day September 3, 2014
    Written by Buttons Padin, V640 Class Administrator Long Beach, CA Some championship regattas fall into the trope of “it’s never like this here.”  In Long Beach, California, this was not true thankfully for the Viper 640 fleet.  Despite dire forecasts, several days of light winds during practice, and an hour on-shore postponement, the Viper 640 North American Championship enjoyed Chamber of Commerce conditions with a classic Long Beach seabreeze for the 34 boats in attendance.  Sailing the inside course, the fleet sailed briskly through the relatively flat seas where hard hiking proved key for the day. In the first race, the fleet split evenly going upwind with both sides of the fleet converging at the first mark. Blasting downwind the boats were hitting speeds in the low teens as boathandling proved a critical asset. In the end, Jeff Grange (Santa Barbara, ...
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  • Long Beach NAs: Are You Ready to RUMmmmmble? August 29, 2014Long Beach NAs: Are You Ready to RUMmmmmble?
    Written by V640 Press Office For the first time in the Viper 640 Class’s history, the North American championship will be contested on the west coast. Hosted by Alamitos Bay Yacht Club, the 2014 NAs will feature 40 boats with teams from seven states, as well as three Canadian and two Australian teams.  “We’re thrilled to bring the North Americans to a very deserving venue” said Class President Peter Beardsley.  “Long Beach is a fantastic place to sail, and the Southern California Viper fleet has become one of the largest in the country.”   READ MORE. Event website.
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  • 2014 San Diego NOODs Newcomers Dominate April 3, 2014
    Written by Alex Steele Wow, what a fun regatta!! This was our second regatta in the Viper and it was a great one. The weather for the San Diego NOODs was nearly perfect with mild temperatures, clear skies, and good wind. the race committee ran nine quality races over three days. Coronado Yacht Club is a great venue and their hospitality gracious. We came out of the gate pretty hot and on day one that saw us win two races and a third in the last race. We were closely followed by Kevin Taugher & Chuck Tripp’s ‘Hot Mess’ and Mark Folkman’s ‘Slitherin’. This was our first regatta with wind and new sails so our focus was to sail clean and smart. We found downwind tactics to be very difficult in the viper as getting rolled or having a puff ...
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  • SoCal Midwinters @ Cal Yacht Club February 26, 2014SoCal Midwinters @ Cal Yacht Club
    Written by John Leyland The second stop on the 2014 West Coast Viper circuit was the Southern California Mid Winters hosted by the California Yacht Club in Marina Del Rey. Mark Folkman and his crew on #130 Slitherin, fresh off their triumph at the Arizona Yacht Club’s Birthday Regatta and Leukemia Cup looked to continue their winning ways. In their way were 10 other Vipers. Boats started arriving on Friday afternoon with Timbo Carter being a great help in bringing #191 over from Glenn Griley’s warehouse as my crew and I flew in from Vancouver. Saturday morning arrived with perfect paddle boarding conditions, warm and windless but a westerly eventually found its way down the channel to get us out into the Pacific off of Venice Beach. The breeze didn’t last long and the race committee postponed for a little ...
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  • Better Know A Viperer: Ed Feo August 18, 2013Better Know A Viperer: Ed Feo
    Those of you on the West Coast and maybe some of you from the East Coast have had the pleasure to meet and sail against Ed Feo over the past couple years in the Viper. Ed has been very active in the fleet and a great addition to the group. Many of you might not know this, and he is much too humble to mention it, but Ed is one of the best Karaoke singers on the West Coast. Look for him at the NAs in Houston, buy him a beer and challenge him to a round of karaoke! What is your home port: Long Beach, CA Viper owned: “Locomotion” US 104. This was the boat sailed successfully by Tim Carter. I named the boat “Locomotion” after my prior boat, which was an Andrews 45. I had a bunch of gear with ...
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  • Long Beach Race Week 2013 July 1, 2013
    Long Beach Race Week was the first regatta in the EFG Pan Am qualifying series.  A full recap with photos will appear here in a couple of days, but in the meantime, check out the brand new EFG Pan American Championship blog for updates. “After three days of racing, the top three boats were only separated by one point.  This was easily the closest racing in a major Viper regatta that anyone can remember…….” For more information about LBRW’s Pan Am scores and further information about the EFG Pan American Championship, please go to dedicated Pan American page : https://www.viper640.org/efgpanam/
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